When all seems lost
by thecolorofmagic
Summary: A oneshot made for the oneshot challenge, this one is a tribute to Neville and Luna


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When all seems lost

Luna's toes were freezing and starting to go numb, a side effect of standing in the snow with no shoes on. When her feet felt like they could take no more of the bitterness she sat down against a tree, pulled her legs inside her warm cardigan and cried. She cried for all the pain she never let herself feel, for the pain she knew she made others feel, for the pain she made herself feel. Because this was entirely her fault. She brought the taunts, the teasing, the pranks onto herself. If she just wasn't so weird, maybe they would leave her alone. Maybe someone would care.

All of the sadness she balled up inside for so many days came rushing out. Her tears burned her cheeks and her head felt like it was exploding, so she gripped it with her hands, put it between her knees and rocked back and forth as she sobbed._ "This is what it's like," _she thought, _"this is how I really go insane."_ When the overwhelming sadness left a few minutes later she sat up and looked around. No one had come to look for her, No one had cared enough to come looking for her. A crushing depression replaced the earlier sobbing made her feel even worse. Her mind was uncontrollably spinning with all the things she has ever done wrong, all the cruel words that brought her to this spot.

She flopped back into the snow, not caring about how wet and cold she was, only caring about how alone she was. "_Maybe I'll just stay here forever." _She thought._ "I'll just sit here and freeze to death and everyone else can live on happily without me." _A Thestral came trotting up behind her she didn't even bother to look up to say hi, but when it ran off she felt even more upset.

_"Even the figments of my imagination don't want to stick around. How horrible must I be to have-" _At that moment the reason of the Thestral's flight came clear. Neville Longbottom came stumbling into the clearing after something that looked an awful lot like a pink pigmy puff blowing in the wind. When it hit the ground it burst into hundreds of little flowers that swirled gently to the ground, some landing in Luna and Neville's hair.

"Oh, um, sorry, I didn't…I didn't mean to disturb you I'm just trying to catch my Puffapod. Are you ok, you don't look to great?" Neville mumbled. Luna just looked blankly at him. He offered his hand to Luna and pulled her to her very numb feet. At this moment, Neville seemed to notice her lack of shoes.

"Come with me, will you? You need to warm up." When Neville said this he pulled her under his arm and she almost burst into tears at his kindness, but she held them in and followed him into the castle.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Before they made it to the castle doors Luna's frozen mussels gave out and she tumbled onto the walk. Neville didn't pause even for a heartbeat. He just reached down and scooped her up, determined to get her into the nearest warm building, greenhouse 7, as quickly as possible. After he opened the door. He set her down on the ground and she looked up at him expectantly. "Why here?" she asked.

"This is my greenhouse, Professor Sprout lent it to me to do some experiments, you know, plant breeding and behaviour and such. This is where I was when I lost my Puffapod and found you. What were you doing out there anyways?" He ended his explanation with a question.

"I was just… hiding I guess. Hiding from the people who were taunting me. I decide to let them forget about it so I was going to leave for a while, and I realized they hid my shoes again. I was really upset by that time so I just wanted to go. I wanted to be alone with my problems, but they swelled inside me until I thought I was going crazy. I know what the people say about me, but I'm not. And I was alone and cold and kind of hoping someone would find me until you did."

Her story made little sense to Neville. Why did she go into the snow when there are plenty of warm, dry places in Hogwarts? She was curled up against him now, her feet tucked under herself and her head resting on his shoulder. Her eyes closed gently as more of the tiny flowers drifted down from the Puffapods on the ceiling. As she rested against Neville she heard him say "Puffapods bloom when their owner is happy."

"Their interesting plants, did you make them?" She asked sitting up to look him in the eye.

"They were my first creation. When I first got this house I just let everything go, and one day this just appeared. It must have cross-bred with something, but it's a nice plant to have. Pretty." He explained.

"Do you want to go back to the castle now? I'm really tired, and I just want to sleep." She responded. Neville helped her stand up and soon they were greeted with the frozen air and snow beneath their feet. Neville didn't let go of Luna's hand the entire way in. _"Maybe someone does care."_ She thought.


End file.
